Sunset let out a contented sigh as she set aside an empty plate on her nightstand. Lemon cake really was the perfect midnight snack. She'd have to thank Pinkie for it next time she saw her.
She lay her head back on her pillow, ready to be carried off to sleep by the sounds of late-night television.
“Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess…”
A fairy tale, the perfect program to fall asleep to.
“... but the princess soon grew bored of all her suitors, and found that none of them could satisfy her.”
Wait, what?
“Luckily, the local wizard knew exactly how to cure her woes. Beanis brand marital aids!”
Wait, what?
Sunset bolted upright and stared at her tv. Onscreen, a woman in lingerie and a tiara moaned sensually, both hands below her waist and offscreen. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and stared intently at the commercial.
That wasn't Fluttershy, was it?
She rubbed her eyes again. Clearly she was still tired. She was seeing things, right?
Wrong.
Sunset swore loudly and leapt from her bed. She was out the door as fast as she could manage, only slowing to grab a thick manilla folder and her phone.
By the time she reached Twilight’s house, Sunset was prepared for damage control. She whipped out her phone and called Twilight.
“Mmm,” Twilight answered with a sleepy groan, “hello?”
“Twilight,” Sunset snapped, “It’s me. I’m outside, and I need you right now.”
A pause on the other end.
“Twilight?”
“Give me just a moment.” Twilight squeaked out, a hint of panic to her voice. The other end of the call terminated.
Sunset waited impatiently. After what felt like a lifetime, she heard Twilight’s voice from the other side of the door.
“It’s unlocked! Come in!”
Sunset opened the door to Twilight leaning awkwardly against a wall in nothing but a pair of lacy underwear.
“S-so what brings you to my place at such a late time-- hour! Late hour.” Twilight raised an eyebrow while the corners of her mouth twitched in what Sunset could only assume was meant to be a smile.
“Really? I'm here in the middle of the night without any warning and you can't guess why I'm here?” Sunset said flatly.
Twilight started walking forward, stumbling as she managed to trip over her own feet. She recovered quickly, though she couldn't hide the blush on her face. She cleared her throat, “Well, I can think of one reason…”
“Good, we're on the same page,” Sunset allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief, “then we can start with how much.”
“You want me to pay you?” Twilight’s head tilted to one side.
“Well, it would be nice to know my efforts are appreciated,” Sunset rolled her eyes, “but we can talk about that later.”
“Sunset, I-I don’t know how I feel about this…”
“Imagine how I feel about it. I had to find out about your advertising plans by watching a commercial.”
“Comm— Oh, you’re talking about that!” Twilight laughed nervously, somehow managing to turn even redder. A small cough escaped her. “Wasn’t it fantastic? Fluttershy was amazing. I can't thank Rainbow Dash enough for convincing her to help.”
“You roped Dash into this too?” Sunset pinched the bridge of her nose and squeezed her eyes shut. Any moment now she’d wake up and this would be just a bad dream.
“Well, she volunteered to make Fluttershy more comfortable. It didn’t take long for Fluttershy to forget the cameras were on.” Twilight beamed, looking quite proud of herself.
Any moment now.
“Juniper did an amazing job editing the shots. You would never guess that Fluttershy was getting intimate with someone in the final cut.”
“You roped Juniper Montage into filming them— moving on! We’re just going to avoid lingering on that. More importantly, how much did all of this cost us?”
“Well, Juniper, filming, and Fluttershy were all pro bono…” Twilight’s smile turned sheepish.
“Okay, free is good. I don’t want to know how you managed that—”
“Dash can be very persuasive.”
“Still don’t want to know!” Sunset said over Twilight. “How much for the ad space?”
“Eight…” Twilight fidgeted with her hands, suddenly very interested in her toes.
“Eight hundred? That’s not too horrible—”
“Thousand.” Twilight corrected.
Sunset’s eye twitched. “Tell me I heard that wrong.”
Twilight started backing away slowly. “You know, I think I should go get dressed for this conversation.” She slipped away before Sunset could protest.
Sunset walked to the kitchen and made herself at home, grabbing a pop from the fridge and spreading out her paperwork across the kitchen island. “I can fix this. I just need to shuffle a lot of this around…”
Sunset pulled a pencil from the recesses of her folder and started erasing numbers and scribbling new ones into the margins of her spreadsheets. “Carry the one and… done?” She frowned at her handiwork and chewed the end of her pencil.
“Did I hear you say done?” Twilight asked as she returned. She’d wrapped herself up in a fuzzy purple bathrobe, looking slightly more presentable for what could technically be considered a business meeting.
“Sorta. I basically moved the entirety of the research budget into advertising, along with a few other bits and bobs to round out the figures.”
Twilight stepped close to Sunset and picked up the spreadsheet. “Sunset, you slashed both of our salaries here.”
“I had to make up the difference somehow.” Sunset glowered at her friend, “The way I see it, it’s the least you could do to make sure we don’t end up in the red, and I’m not mean enough to slash Wallflower’s pay.”
“But you’re not making any money now,” Twilight mumbled.
“Yeah, yeah. You can buy me a milkshake some time to make up for it.” Sunset replied, waving a dismissive hand. “More importantly, can you tell me why you went and bought commercial time without telling me? You know, the person that handles the finances of this business venture?”
“We need to drum up sales.” Twilight looked at Sunset as though this were the most obvious thing in the world.
“But if we lose money in the process, then you’re not accomplishing anything.” Sunset pointed out, taking a sip of her drink. “We want this business to last, right?”
“We won’t last if someone’s outselling us,” Twilight snapped, “especially when they’re selling my stolen designs.”
“Look, I know you’re mad, but we don’t need to go making any rash decisions. We can’t just throw around that kind of money—”
“You think our competitor is worried about that?” Twilight growled.
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen—”
“They’re not. Every day we let slip by without putting the Beanis name out there is another day someone else is cornering our market— my market.” Twilight slammed a hand onto the counter.
“Alright, I get it.” Sunset sighed and started putting away the paperwork.
“I don’t think you do.” Twilight was practically sneering at Sunset. “All you see is the numbers. You don’t know just how many hours I’ve put into this. This isn’t some science fair project, Sunset…”
“Twilight?”
“... this is the culmination of weeks of research hours, of testing and retesting to make sure every last detail is perfect...”
“Twilight,” Sunset said firmly, taking a step backwards.
“... If you think I’m going to let some impotent worm steal all that from me, then you have sorely underestimated just how far I’ll go to crush—”
“Twilight!” Sunset yelled.
“What?!” Twilight slammed a fist into the countertop.
Sunset pointed at Twilight’s reflection in the stainless steel fridge.
Twilight looked to find a face not entirely her own. Dark wings had sprouted from her back, stretching out across most of the kitchen. Her hair had changed from its usual style to something ethereal, flowing in a nonexistent breeze. Most notably, magical blue flames framed her eyes, casting a sickly blue pallor over her face.
Twilight blinked at her reflection for a moment before swallowing hard. Her transformation faded as quickly as it had come.
Twilight’s shoulders sagged. “I’m… I’m sorry. I guess I just lost my temper there.”
Sunset let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding in. “It’s fine. It could happen to anyone.” She placed a hand on Twilight’s shoulder and smiled as reassuringly as she could manage.
“Thanks, Sunset.” Twilight managed a weak smile of her own. “I think I’m just tired. I’m going to go to bed.”
“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Call me in the morning?”
Twilight nodded and trudged from the kitchen, leaving Sunset alone.
Sunset finished gathering her things and set off for home. As she walked, her mind wandered back to the mysterious rival that had managed to steal from under Twilight’s nose. She needed to find out who it was, and fast. For Twilight’s sake, if nothing else.
She pulled out her phone and stared at her contacts list. Maybe it was time to bring in some outside help.
